Murray looking for 'quiet' trades

On March 11, 2003, as general manager of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Bryan Murray made two deals.

He acquired 39-year-old Steve “Stumpy” Thomas from the Chicago Blackhawks for a fifth-round draft pick (which turned out to be Russian left wing Alexei Ivanov, who never even got close to the NHL).

Then he got right wing Rob Niedermayer from the Calgary Flames for Jean-Francois Damphousse and Mike Commodore.

They were two minor moves that hardly anyone noticed, but they made Murray look like a genius. With those two players, the Ducks made it to the Stanley Cup final for the first time.

Thomas, just a year away from the end of his career, had 10 goals and three assists in 12 regular-season games, then four goals and four assists in 21 playoff games.

Niedermayer, who played for Murray in Florida, had two goals and two assists in the regular season and three goals and seven assists in the playoffs.

“I remember, Brian Sutter was the coach in Chicago and he said, ‘I hope you don’t expect Stumpy to score any goals for you,’” recalls Murray. “Well, he was a star. He provided leadership, character. And Rob Niedermayer became one of our best players in the playoffs. He was on the checking line but he also got some points.

“They were two lesser-known names, but (Anaheim coach) Mike Babcock was able to fit them into good roles, and they both made huge contributions.”

That’s the type of deal Murray would like to make before Wednesday’s trade deadline, if indeed he decides to make one.

In his experience as a general manager, it is not the big flashy deals that pay off.

The moves he prefers are what he calls the “quiet” ones, along the lines of the trade New York Islanders general manager Bill Torrey made in 1980 when he acquired Butch Goring from Los Angeles Kings for Billy Harris and Dave Lewis.

It was the piece the Islanders needed to put them over the top.

That year, Goring had seven goals and 12 assists in the playoffs as the Islanders won the first of four straight Cups.

The next year he had 10 goals and 10 assists and won the Conn Smythe Trophy.

While Murray’s acquisition of Thomas and Niedermayer fell short of the same result, the thinking behind it was the same. The idea is to supplement your roster at the deadline, not reconstruct it.

“To me, it’s always been, you decide if your team is going to be in the playoffs, and if you can do anything to help them, add something without disrupting the chemistry of the team, but might add some particular dimension, whether it be a faceoff guy, or a checker, or a goal scorer,” said Murray, in a wide-ranging interview about his approach to deadline day.

“What fits that the coach can use, and that the players will understand as being an addition, not just something that will knock someone out of the lineup. It’s somebody that you think that can play a role on your team.”

The Pittsburgh Penguins may put the lie to that thinking this season with their dramatic acquisition of Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla.

While their earlier acquisitions of forward Brenden Morrow and defenceman Douglas Murray were moves to add depth, the acquisition of Iginla is general manager Ray Shero’s bold attempt to hit a home run.

It gives the Penguins an embarrassment of offensive riches and makes them the prohibitive favourites to win the Cup.

Whether it works figures to provide debate fodder for a long time.

Shero has already tried it once before with the acquisition of Marian Hossa from the Atlanta Thrashers in 2008. That bid fell just short. Hossa did what he was supposed to do. He had 12 goals and 14 assists in the playoffs. But it wasn’t enough to beat the Detroit Red Wings, who won the Cup in six games.

Was it worth it to take that chance?

That’s the question the general manager has to answer before he makes the move, and it’s a delicate balance.

You want to do the right thing for your team, said Murray, but at the same time you don’t want to pay a heavy price.

“You have to understand that this franchise, like every franchise, is going to continue, so when you give up second-round picks, or you give up young prospects, you have to take into consideration what that addition, in the short term, is going to do for you,” he said. “And that’s the hard part.

“I watch trades all the time, and see people give up two second-round picks or a top young prospect for the simple goal of trying to win the Stanley Cup in that particular year, and if you don’t win, you pay a big price.

“But, you’re trying to give your group an opportunity to win.”

In the end, the Penguins came out of that deal looking pretty good. While Hossa didn’t stick around, signing instead with the Red Wings the next year, what the Penguins gave up — Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, prospect Angelo Esposito, and the Penguins’ first-round pick in 2008 (Daultan Leveille) — didn’t amount to anything of consequence. Meanwhile, forward Pascal Dupuis, who came over with Hossa, remains a productive forward for the Penguins.

But while teams can pay a heavy price for making a high-priced, flashy move that doesn’t work, there’s also a price to pay for not doing enough, said Murray.

That’s the category into which then-general manager John Muckler’s acquisition of Oleg Saprykin in 2007 fits.

The team, said Murray, was trying to get Gary Roberts. When it didn’t, Saprykin — who carried the high price of a second-round pick — became the consolation prize. The team did make it to the finals, but Saprykin, who had one goal and one assist in 15 playoffs games, was not enough to get the Senators past the Ducks, who won in five.

“I was coaching at the time and I remember thinking, ‘why did we do this?’” said Murray.

As this deadline approaches, Murray doesn’t feel a lot of pressure to make a move.

Second, his young players have played well and many of them — such as Jim O’Brien, Patrick Wiercioch, Eric Gryba, Erik Condra, Zack Smith, Andre Benoit, Hoffman, Robin Lehner, and Colin Greening — have the experience of winning a Calder Cup with the Binghamton Senators in 2010-11.

“I’m not saying I won’t (make a move), but our kids have played well and we hope they’re going to get one or two guys back,” said Murray. “Based on that, our depth will be better, and we’ve got a whole bunch of guys now that have shown they can play games in the NHL.”

However, the record shows that Murray rarely stands pat. If his team has a chance, he won’t let the opportunity pass.

Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.

Like any general manager, Murray has had wins, losses, and draws at the trading table.

In 2008, he traded Joe Corvo and Patrick Eaves to the Carolina Hurricanes for Mike Commodore and Cory Stillman, and then got Martin Lapointe from the Chicago Blackhawks for a sixth-round pick.

That didn’t work out. The Penguins swept the Senators in four, though in fairness, the Senators weren’t very good and didn’t deserve more than that.

In 2010, Murray traded defenceman Alexandre Picard and a second-round draft pick in 2011 to the Carolina Hurricanes for Matt Cullen, then traded a second-round draft pick in 2010 to the New York Islanders for Andy Sutton.

That also didn’t result in long run, as the Penguins defeated the Senators in six.

But Murray also has his victories.

In the last year alone he has hit three home runs, getting Kyle Turris from the Phoenix Coyotes for defenceman David Rundblad and a second-round pick, Marc Methot from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Nick Foligno, and, perhaps most importantly, goalie Ben Bishop from the St. Louis Blues for a second-round draft pick in 2013.

“A second-round pick was a high price for Bishop, but we had needs,” said Murray.

“Craig Anderson (who had sliced a finger in a kitchen accident) was hurt and gone for a period of time. We were going to drop out of the race if we didn’t do something and we got a good young player who has had a big impact on this team.”

Getting Anderson ranks among Murray’s top transactions as well. The GM sent Brian Elliott, who’d completely lost his game in Ottawa, to Colorado for the player who currently leads the NHL in goals-against average and save percentage.

So, over the next few days Murray will make phone calls and field them and see what develops.

Disrupting his team’s chemistry is of special concern, since this team, despite injuries to Spezza, Anderson, Erik Karlsson, Milan Michalek, and Cowen, has bonded and continued to win.

Prices are also high in this lockout-shortened season.

“The hard part this year is that there aren’t that many teams out of it,” said Murray.

“So you’re calling around and asking ‘What are you doing with so-and-so?’ And they’re saying, ‘well, we don’t know, Bryan. We’re still there. If we can win this weekend, we’re only a couple of points out.’

“So it’s hard, and sometimes it’s insulting when you call a manager and say ‘I’d like to make a trade with you’ and he’s only five points behind you.

“So you’ve got to be aware of that, and that’s maybe why the price is high.”

And if Murray does find something he likes, he’ll make the deal and hope it turns out OK, though he knows, of course, that there aren’t any guarantees.

“You make deals, and sometimes you’re happy with the deals,” he said. “You know that not every deal is going to turn out. That’s just a fact of life.

“A player in one environment is different in another environment.

“You pay your scouts to give you information, you watch games, you watch players, you think that moving from one environment to another is the same, but quite often it’s not. Quite often it’s a different chemistry, a different fit, and we understand that.

“You just hope you’re doing the right thing when you do it, and when it’s over and the media have their field day with you, that you have thick enough skin to say, ‘I screwed up.’”

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Sports Highlights

BRK0IND07:30 PM

DET0ATL07:30 PM

MIA0SAN08:00 PM

LAC0GSW010:30 PM

WIN0NYR08:00 PM

NAS0VAN08:00 PM

DET0OTT07:30 PM

TOR0TAM07:30 PM

CLB0NJD07:00 PM

WAS0CAR07:00 PM

BOS0FLA07:00 PM

Video

Classified

Stories, pictures and tributes to life. View and place obituaries, and more.

Share the joy. Tell the world. Read and place announcements here.

Buy, sell and trade smarter.

Find the job you want in your city. View and place job listings, and more.